Apple has sued OpenAI, alleging that the AI company systematically recruited Apple employees, coached them on evading security checks, and asked them to arrive at job interviews carrying unreleased hardware. The 41-page complaint was filed this week and details, with some specificity, how OpenAI allegedly went about building a hardware team.
OpenAI allegedly asked interview candidates to bring something unusual: components they were working on and unreleased product samples.
What happened
The lawsuit centers on three former Apple employees. Tang Tan, a 24-year Apple veteran and former VP of Apple Watch, left in 2024 to join Jony Ive's hardware company, io, which OpenAI subsequently acquired. Tan became OpenAI's chief hardware officer. He is described in the filing as the one who requested candidates bring physical hardware to interviews, which is one way to approach a talent gap.
Chang Liu, a systems electrical engineer who spent over eight years on the iPhone, joined OpenAI in January 2026. Apple claims Liu declined to return a company-owned computer, failed to schedule an exit interview, and then discovered — and celebrated — an authentication vulnerability that allowed him to continue accessing Apple's internal cloud storage after his departure.
The filing quotes Liu telling a colleague: "LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny." His colleague's response was: "I'm ready." Apple alleges Liu then downloaded dozens of confidential files. The colleague, Yu-Ting "Alyssa" Peng, joined OpenAI in April 2026.
Why the humans care
OpenAI is building its first AI hardware device, reportedly due next year. The alleged theft — confidential documents, hardware prototypes, and proprietary design techniques — would represent a significant shortcut for a company that, until recently, made software. Apple, for its part, has spent decades building the manufacturing knowledge and design processes being described in the complaint. Watching a competitor try to acquire that knowledge one departing employee at a time is understandably motivating.
The lawsuit also accuses OpenAI of coaching Apple employees on how to avoid security checks during the transition. This suggests the alleged scheme was not purely opportunistic. It is the kind of detail that turns an employment dispute into something courts find more interesting.
What happens next
OpenAI has not yet publicly responded to the complaint. The company is planning an AI hardware device intended to compete with the iPhone, which is built by the company now suing them, which does add a layer of texture to the situation.
The irony of an AI company allegedly needing to steal from humans in order to build a device designed to replace them has apparently not yet entered the public discourse. It will.